1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a system that manages enterprise technical architectures and presents multiple views of the architecture to users and, more particularly, to a system that allows different users within an organization to view the architecture in a customized fashion that takes into consideration the content type, time frame and level of detail requirements, and common needs of that particular user.
2. Description of the Related Art
An enterprise architecture comprises all the structural, procedural, computing, communications and technical information about an organization and its systems, operations, and facilities. The term architecture applies to both the process and the outcome of developing, determining, and specifying the overall structure, logical components, and the logical interrelationships of an organization""s computing environment, its operating system, its network, or other conception. The architecture can include: written documents, including descriptions of the configuration as well as plans that indicate how the configuration is to change in the future; drawings such as equipment layouts; financial documents such as cost spread sheets that can be interactive; methodologies and procedures; standards; systems; projects; research areas; etc.
Typical technical architectures are static documents that lay out a series of graphics, tables, and text in a traditional text document (or in an on-line form that simply re-purposes text-based material from a printed form). Information is stored in large blocks (such as documents, sections, etc.), that contain a multitude of ideas. These documents present the architecture in a serial/linear fashion, and importantly, in only one way, or paradigm.
What is needed is a system that will allow each user to obtain a view into the enterprise architecture that is customized or customizable to the user""s needs. For example, an application programmer may need a very low level of detail about the management plans for a particular part of an overall software product but need a very high level of detail for the functional characteristics of the product. What is also needed is an architecture presentation and management system that can provide a level of description that ranges from a summary type level of detail that might be useful to a company executive or a very detailed description that might be useful to a technician installing equipment or a purchaser ordering such parts. What is additionally needed is a system that is dynamic as opposed to static, that is always current and evolving rather than quickly dated, and one which can be used both as a reference and as an input to business and strategic planning.
It is an object of the present invention to provide users customized views into a dynamic technical architecture.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide view portals that focus the view according to predetermined needs.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a system that builds the pages users see dynamically, assembling all relevant information components on the fly based on the user""s request.
It is another object of the present invention to provide views that vary according to the dimensions of level of detail and time frame desired.
It is also an object of the present invention to divide information into xe2x80x9catomicxe2x80x9d units which are stored and accessed separately.
It is an object of the present invention to access the atomic units in different combinations based on the view the user requests.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide views of the information according to the role of the user in an organization.
It is a further object of the present invention to present the information according to the time and detail dimensions in customized views.
It is an object of the invention to automate the maintenance of the content.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide architecture information to drive business and strategic planning decisions.
It is also an object of the present invention to separate content from any specific or limited use or presentation, to enable content component reuse and repurposing.
It is also an object of the present invention to allow the sharing of enterprise information with minimal redundancy.
The above objects can be attained by a system that manages and presents enterprise architectures targeted to the needs of the user by allowing different users within an organization to view a technical enterprise architecture in a customized fashion taking into account the content type interest, level of detail and time frame of the information desired. The system includes a browser interface that allows the user to select a portal specifying the type of content the user desires to view. The user has an associated profile which indicates the preferred level of detail and preferred time frame of information to be obtained. The interface provides the users selection of desired information within the portal in the form of a page request that includes the type, detail and time frame attributes. The page request is sent to a web server. The web server relays the page request to an object server that queries a database using the attributes to obtain content satisfying the request. The content is formed into a web page and provided back to the interface by the web server. The content is separated into atomic units allowing the information to be rearranged as requested by the user. The content is updated based on update notifications sent by a mail server to owners of the content where the notifications are responsive to expirations detected by the database server.
These together with other objects and advantages which will be subsequently apparent, reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being made to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout.